English 18th Century Portrait Sculpture: Bust of Joshua Reynolds bought Watson Taylor

A Bust of Sir Joshua Reynolds bought Watson Taylor.

from Reynolds niece The Dowager Marchioness of Thomond

NB. Also a plaster bust of Michaelangelo.

From Christie’s, A catalogue of the very valuable and highly important collection of ancient and modern pictures of the dowager Marchioness of Thomond, deceased…, 18 May 1821.

A catalogue of the very valuable and highly important collection of ancient and modern pictures of the dowager Marchioness of Thomond, deceased : comprising, besides various specimens of some of the greatest masters in the Italian, French, Flemish and Dutch schools, a considerable number of the finest works of the late Sir Joshua Reynolds ... and portraits of Sir Joshua by himself ... : which will be sold by auction, by Mr. Christie, at his great room, pall mall, on Friday, May 18, 1821, and following day, at one o'clock precisely.

https://archive.org/details/catalogueofveryv00chri/page/12

Not relevant but interesting see -

https://www.burlington.org.uk/archive/letter/reynolds-37424

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From Literary Works of Sir Joshua...... - Malone. 1809

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Sir Joshua Reynolds

Ceracchi (1751 - 1801).

Marble.

inscribed Cirachi sculpsit. Roma.

Height 720 mm.

c. 1778

The Royal Academy possesses an undated marble version of the bust, signed Cirachi sculpsit Roma,

this bust was presented to the RA by Lord Taunton in 1851.

https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of-art/bust-of-sir-joshua-reynolds-p-r-a

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Joshua Reynolds.

Plaster Bust

After Guiseppe Ceracchi.

Sudbury Hall

National Trust

This must have been cast from Ceracchi’s bust of Reynolds in terracotta, dated 1778, which had been presented to the Royal Academy in 1810.

The terracotta bust had been sold in auction by Greenwood in 1792.

A marble was in the possession of

There is a version by P Sarti at the Atheneum London (see below) -

They say Sarti made new moulds of the bust, but was not allowed to keep them for his own use. "The tunic and cloak were added to the portrait by Sarti, to make the format similar to the others"?

Ceracchi’s terracotta was apparently destroyed (The Age of Neo-Classicism, Council of Europe Exhibition Catalogue, London 1972, no. 335).

The Royal Academy now possesses an undated marble version of the bust, signed Cirachi sculpsit Roma, which was presented by Lord Taunton in 1851.

On the cast in the Octagon at the Burlington House (built 1868), the pinned cloak is different from the marble, which suggests that it too had been made from the lost terracotta.

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Plaster

Height 770 mm

Rotunda Royal Academy

Ceracchi (1751-1801) who lived in London during the 1770s. Specifically the cast is believed to have been made from Ceracchi’s original terracotta model, which formerly belonged to the Royal Academy although its present whereabouts is unknown. The RA also possesses Ceracchi’s marble bust of Reynolds (c.1778-9), although given the differences between the pinned cloak of the marble and this cast, it is unlikely the marble was the source.

The bust manifests Reynolds’ own ideas about sculpture, which he expressed in his 1780 Discourse to the Royal Academy. Reynolds rejected the naturalism of sculptors who utilised contemporary costume and lifelike detail, preferring the classicism of sculptors such as Ceracchi and his former employer Agostino Carlini. Ceracchi has based the portrait on Roman busts of Emperor Caracalla, presenting Reynolds as someone who not only practices, but also thinks deeply about art.

This cast is one of eight busts of artists and architects installed in the 'Octagon' in the Main Galleries at Burlington House when the RA moved there in 1868.

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